By Leanne Greenfield | Development Intern
In October 2017, Mariatu* travelled from her home town to Sierra Leone’s capital, Freetown, for the first time to visit her friend. Anticipating she would stay only a couple of days, Mariatu had left her 3-year-old daughter with her parents in Bo town. Unbeknown to Mariatu, however, it would be over 3 months until she was reunited with her daughter. On the day she arrived in Freetown, Mariatu’s friend accused her of stealing money. Only a matter of hours later, she was arrested and charged with the crime of ‘larceny in a dwelling house’. Under the Larceny Act 1916, this crime carries a maximum sentence of 14 years.
AdvocAid’s Legal Officer met Mariatu in Lumley police station the day she was arrested. Mariatu told our Legal Officer that she was accused of stealing 2,300,000 Leones (approximately US$300) from her friend’s house. Despite pleading not guilty to the charges, the police alleged that Mariatu confessed to stealing 80,000 Leones (approximately US$10). However, Mariatu denies having made this confession. Although the police officer wrote down her statement, Mariatu cannot read or write and so could not read what the statement said. Unaware of her legal rights, she had not known that the statement should have been read out to her for her to verify its accuracy.
Mariatu had no-one in Freetown who could help or advise her and had no way of contacting her friends and family at home to tell them of her arrest. Whilst she was entitled to bail, she had no-one who could act as a surety and Mariatu, therefore, remained in detention.
In Sierra Leone, a trial for even a minor offence can take several months; the vast majority of cases are adjourned multiple times and this results in severe delays and congestion in the justice system. Mariatu’s case was adjourned 10 times. This meant that she spent over 3 months in detention. Having only planned to stay in Freetown for a few days, Mariatu was extremely worried about her unexplained absence from her family and her 3-year-old daughter, a hardship made all the worse with it being the Christmas period.
AdvocAid’s Legal Officer worked hard for Mariatu to be released and to see Mariatu’s case appear in court, liaising frequently with the investigating officer and court officials. When the case was finally heard in court, 12 weeks after Mariatu was arrested, the prosecution presented three witnesses to testify against Mariatu: the investigating officer, the complainant, and another tenant of the house. However, the prosecution failed to provide any evidence which connected Mariatu to the theft. As her defense counsel, AdvocAid’s Legal Officer asked the magistrate to dismiss the charges, as the prosecution had failed to make an adequate case to proceed with the trial. The magistrate agreed and acquitted Mariatu of all charges.
Following her release in January, AdvocAid ensured Mariatu was able to return to Bo safely and provided her with transportation funds so that she could purchase a bus ticket to Bo. We are thrilled to hear that Mariatu has been reunited with her 3-year-old daughter and is now able to continue working as a petty trader in Bo.
AdvocAid’s paralegals and duty counsels work tirelessly to make sure that women like Mariatu receive legal aid and representation, without which they could face years in detention for a crime they did not commit. As the only organisation in Sierra Leone providing holistic legal services to the country’s women and girls, it is of the utmost importance that AdvocAid can carry on its work on behalf of these disadvantaged women. This can only happen if we continue to receive your support. It is with your help that Mariatu was reunited with her child this January, and we look forward to bringing access to justice to many more women and girls in 2018. So that this can happen, we encourage you to donate to this project, and urge you to share this report with your contacts.
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*Name has been changed to protect the individual’s identity
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